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Saint John of Capistrano, Priest

optional memorial Ordinary Time
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Selected Mass Reading

Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

On the first day of the week, a psalm for David. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour. This is the generation of them that seek him, of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Saints Memorialized Today

John of Capistrano
John of Capistrano Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, preacher, missionary, inquisitor, jurist, diplomat 1386–1456

Saint John of Capistrano was born on June 24, 1386, in Capestrano in the Abruzzi region of Italy. Trained in law at Perugia, he was appointed governor of that turbulent city, but during a diplomatic mission he was imprisoned—an ordeal that turned his heart toward God. After his release he entered the Franciscan Order in 1416, inspired by a dream in which Saint Francis called him to the friars. Ordained a priest in 1425, he embraced strict poverty and penance and became a tireless preacher, drawing immense crowds in Italy and throughout central and northern Europe. John also served the Church as a theologian, reformer of Franciscan life, and papal envoy, defending devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus and working to strengthen faith and discipline. In his old age he earned the title “Soldier Saint” when, at seventy, he helped rally defenders against the Ottoman siege of Belgrade in 1456. Soon after the victory he died of plague on October 23, 1456. He is a patron of Capestrano and of military ordinariates in Spain and Hungary. His feast day is October 23.